Bruno

This wasn't very funny.

It certainly wasn't unfunny, and if you loved Borat and laughed out loud at the trailer for this one, you'll certainly find it entertaining. But I just didn't find it all that funny. In fact, I didn't even finish it, turning it off about an hour in because I just got bored and could think of a handful of better ways to spend my time (like doing my dishes or going for a walk). But it was ok. I laughed out loud a few times, but not enough to keep me watching.

I loved Borat and laughed uproariously when I saw it in the theater. Maybe this film wasn't as funny, or maybe I've just matured a little bit since Sasha Baren Cohen's previous film. I dunno. I just know that this film seemed more mean spirited and misguided than it should've been. Borat was as black a comedy as you could ever find, but it mostly poked fun at racism and ignorance. Bruno just makes fun of the fashion industry and the cult of celebrity. Personally, I don't have anything against the fashion industry, so I didn't care nor did I find most of the more pointed jokes to be very funny. There was one interview, for example, where Cohen (as Bruno) baited a model into saying that her job was very hard. That was the whole point of the scene, and I suppose we were supposed to laugh at this egotistical model for having the audacity to admit that her job was hard. Why is that funny? No, she doesn't clean up road kill off the side of the road, but I still imagine she puts in a hard days work. Anyway, it seemed unfair because I would imagine being a model isn't much easier than being the star of a movie like Bruno. But that was my main problem with this film: It featured an actor in a major Hollywood movie attacking other actors who work in Hollywood movies.

But much of it was funny, but only when he was being silly. Like the extended gay sex scene where Bruno and his pygmy lover performed some of the most ridiculous sex acts ever put on film. I also really liked the seen where Bruno showed up at a fashion show dressed in a suit made completely of velco, but he just ended up sticking to all of the walls and everybody in the building. That was funny. But then going on and destroying a fashion show that a lot of people probably worked very hard to put on wasn't funny.

I dunno. I like to laugh, and I find it hard to laugh when I know that real people are the butt of the jokes. In Borat, the people being ridiculed seemed to enjoy it. In Bruno, it just didn't work the same way.

Skip it.